The Nick Ashley Trophy, Lent Term 2025

1. A ladder will be set up of players who wish to compete at the start of term. Late entrants to the ladder enter at the bottom. The current ladder will be displayed on the CUTwC website.
2. Players can challenge anyone up to 3 players above them on the ladder, provided that (a) this is not the last person they played a match against, and (b) this is not the last person that they challenged. The organiser should be e-mailed details of the challenge.
3. The higher player is only allowed to refuse a challenge if they already have a ladder challenge to play (also see point 8).
4. Match results are decided by points gained from 2 games, though players are free to agree alternative numbers of games for the match (e.g. just a single game, or a marathon 5 game match). In the event of a tie, decide the result by a pot-out competition. The organiser should be e-mailed details of the match result.
5. If the higher player wins the match, there is no change in ladder position.
6. If the lower player wins the match, they take the ladder position of the higher player, and the higher player drops one place in the ladder.
7. Matches must be played outside Wednesday meetings within 7 days of the challenge being made. If not played within 7 days, the organiser will either demote both players one place in the ladder, or demote the player deemed most responsible for the delay one place in the ladder.
8. Players may optionally accept a second challenge and play it before the first challenge should this be convenient. The prior challenge should still be played (even if a change in ladder position has occurred that would normally make it invalid).
9. Whoever is top of the ladder at a particular time should proudly display the trophy in their room.

It has been decreed that rule 2 means that a player may challenge anyone up to three places above at the time of the challenge, but that rule 6 applies to the position of the players at the time the match is completed. Rule 8 is note entirely clear on this, but it allows an individual player to jump a large number of places in a single match, by delaying a game with a prolific opponent. Please do not game the system (or refuse a challenge if you feel your challenger is doing so when you already have a challenge in flight). Alternative solutions may require better tracking of when challenges are placed (and thus their ordering) than we seem to have.

Players may ask to borrow equipment from the Club if necessary (ask Emmy) — but must promise to return equipment at the following CUTwC meeting. Matches do not need to be played on full-size tables — but can take place in student rooms, College bars, wherever convenient. Players should sportingly decide umpiring decisions themselves, or toss a coin to adjudicate if it really is too close to decide. Players should note that 2 games of singles can be played in 1 hour.

Lent Term 2024: Jack Murphy is the organiser of the Ladder competition for this term; please reach out to him if you need to know email addresses.